Friday, March 29
       

India vs Australia, 2020-21: 1 T20I – Who said what

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Australia vs India. (Photo by Cameron Spencer / Getty Image)

India managed to overcome the disappointment of the ODI series and made a brilliant T20 debut against Australia. Virat Kohli and co beat the Kangaroos by 11 runs at Manuka Oval in Canberra to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. It was his ninth consecutive win in the T20 format. The series now leads to the prestigious SCG where the final two matches will take place.

Jadeja and Rahul Star

After being sent to bat, India’s innings mostly revolved KL Rahul And Ravindra Jadeja. Rahul left the IPL 2020, scoring 51 runs with 40 fours and a six. But he lacked support at the top. Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli were dismissed in single digits. Mitchell Swepson, who was called as a replacement for Ashton Agar, caught an easy catch and bowled to Kohli.

Sanju Samson looked impressive in his brief 15-run knock, but his ball was cut short by Moises Henriques. Henriques was also Australia’s standout bowler as he took three wickets for 22 runs in his four overs. Had Jadeja’s unbeaten 44-ball 23 not out, India would have been 10-15 runs short of their score of 161 for seven. Mitchell Starc also picked up two wickets for the Australian team.

Chahal and Natarajan show their magic

The Australian team descended to flirt a bit in their run-chase, scoring 53 runs in the powerplay without losing wickets. But then Yuzvendra Chahal, who came as an alternative to Jadeja, gave India the first success. He got rid of Aaron Finch, who was batting on 35 for 26 runs. After this, Twitter gave India some hope by dismissing Steve Smith. T Natarajan then removed Glenn Maxwell.

D’Arcy Short, who looked steady with 34, became Natarajan’s second victim. Henriques looked invincible after scoring 30 off 20 balls, but Deepak Chahar overtook him. Before that Chahal got rid of Matthew Wade. Natarajan took three wickets on his T20I debut and conceded just 30 runs. In the final two overs, the required rate went off Australia’s radar.

Yuzvendra Chahal, player of the match said

I have played a lot of games and was mentally fit. 10-15 minutes before the start of the innings, I found out that I would play. I tried to do the way Zampa bowled. It was a bit difficult to score in the first innings. 150–160 is a good score on this wicket. I bowled as per my plan.

Australian captain Aaron Finch said

The injury progressively worsened as the game went on. Jadeja was thrown out by his doctor for his consent. You cannot challenge the opinion of a medical expert. We might even run to death, leaked. Then in the chase, we did not hit too many boundaries in the 6-over period.

Indian captain Virat Kohli said

There was no plan to be Yuzhi in the game. Concussion replacement is a strange thing. Today, it worked for us. Yuzhi showed character to squeeze opponents. I thought they had started off well. They were cruising. The batsmen gave us some wickets. That is T20 cricket for you. In Australia, you need to show hard work and intensity to the end. He batted beautifully in the last game. Natarajan is feeling that he can improve a lot. Chahar also bowled well. Hardik’s catch was a game changer as well.